Peach Lemonade

In my 3+ years of blogging, I've only posted two drink recipes.

This one is my fourth this month!

A refreshing drink is an essential part of the Iftar spread and it was fun this year to try some new drink recipes. Peaches are my favourite fruit so a peach lemonade experiment was bound to happen and I'm happy to report it was a huge success. This lemonade is packed with fresh fruity flavour and though it might a bit of extra work, it beats any packaged drink mix out there.

This post might just be my favourite because not only was the lemonade delicious, but just look at those sunflowers!

Peach Lemonade
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

2 large peaches (approx. 450g)

4 cups water

⅓ to ½ cup lemon juice

½ to ¾ cup simple syrup

To serve:

Ice

½ peach, cut into four wedges or thinly sliced

1. Peel the peaches, remove the stones, and roughly chop them up.
2. Add the peaches to a blender with 1 cup water and blend until smooth.
3. Add the peach puree, 3 cups water, ⅓ cup lemon juice and ½ cup simple syrup to a large jug and stir.
4. Taste and add more lemon juice and/or simple syrup if you want.
5. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
6. Serve with ice and peach wedges/slices.

Watermelon Breeze

When this drink popped up on my Pinterest feed a few days ago, I wanted to make it immediately. It sounded like the quintessential summer drink and it turned out to to be the perfect way to rehydrate after a particularly trying day of fasting.

I scooped out some melon balls the night before and put them in the freezer to use along with regular ice.

Watermelon Breeze

Ingredients

3 cups chopped/cubed watermelon

1 cup coconut water

juice of 1 large lemon (2 to 3 tablespoons)
a pinch of salt

To serve:
Frozen melon balls (optional)
Ice
Mint leaves

1. Add the watermelon to a blender and blend until smooth. Strain to remove any seeds.
2. Add the watermelon juice to a jug. Add coconut water, lemon juice, and salt. Stir to mix.
3. Serve with (frozen) melon balls, ice, and mint leaves.

Serves 4 to 6.

Chamus (apricot juice)

(This recipe was first published in Dawn.com.)

I recently wrote a review for Dawn.com on a really great dhaba here in Islamabad, called Maantu Gul Kitchen. I had heard about it from a few friends and thought it might be interesting to write about. Then I actually went, and after sampling their amazing parathas, I have become a huge fan.

During the course of writing up the review I met and spoke with the owner and head chef, Aslam Pervez, multiple times. Aslam has included quite a few items from Hunza (where he is from) on the Maantu Gul Kitchen menu, and he was kind enough to share one of those recipes with me.

Chamus is a drink made with dried apricots and, although they're in season right now, this is the perfect way to enjoy apricot juice all year round!

Click here to read the full article.

Chamus (Apricot Juice)

Ingredients

500g dried apricots
1 litre boiling water

1. In a large glass or ceramic bowl, add the apricots and pour the boiling water over them. Cover the bowl and leave the apricots to soak for 1 hour.
2. After an hour has passed, squash and mash the apricots with your hands to blend them into the water. (You may use a potato masher for this step but, according to Aslam, the juice is tastier when this is done by hand.) You should end up with a thick pulpy orange-coloured mixture.
3. Strain the apricot mixture. Store the strained liquid in the refrigerator until the juice is thoroughly chilled.

The juice is quite thick, so you can thin it out a bit by adding water, if you prefer.